Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1887-02-17

that number does not appear"
Then this young man of twenty.
three who had never before failed in
point of honor, conceived frightful
thought. CHANGING around he made
sure that he was quite alone iu the
deserted street, and STOPPING, with
trembling hand, he stole the louis d or
from the fallen shoe. Then running
swiftly, he returned to the gambling
house; he reached the top of the
stairs in four bounds, with blow of
his fist he opened the cushioned door
of the cursed hall and entered at the
precise moment when the clock sound
ed the first stroke of midnight, threw
the stolen louis on the green cloth,
and exclaimed:
"Full on the l7r'
The II won. With tuin of his
hand Lncien pushed thirty.six louis
on the red. The red won. He let
the seventy-two louis remain on the
same color. The red appeared again.
He still continued to double the stakes,
twice, thrice-always with the same
good luck. He had regained, a in few
turns of fortunes wheel, the few mis-
cradle 1000 franc notes, his last re-
sources, that he had lost at the begin
ming of the evening. Now, piling up
200 or 800 louis at time and rely
ing on his fantastic run of luck, he
was in a fair way to regain the for
tune that in such few years he had
squandered. He still won. The
blood boils in his veins; he becomes
intoxicated with good fortune; he
throws, at hazard whole handfuls of
golden louis upon the table with ges
ture of certainty and disdain.
But in spite of the wild feverish
excitement of play, a red hot iron was
piercing his heart. He could not d.
vert his thoughts from the little beggar
girl asleep under the snow-the child
whom he had robbed.
"She must DO in the same place |
Certainly she must be there In a
moment yes when the clock strikes
one; swear 1t, | will leave this place.
| will carry her to my own house
| will bring her up, give her a dowry,
love her as my own daughter, cherish
her always, always T.
But the clock struck one--the
quarter-the half--three quarters.
Lucien was still seated at the cursed
table. At last one minute before two,
the dealer rose quickly and announced
in a loud voice; 1.-THE bank is broken,
gentlemen; enough for tonight"
With bound Lucien was on his
feet. Thrusting rudeIy aside the
players who gathered about him, and
who were regarding him with a look
Of envious admiration, he went out
quickly, rushed down the stair and
ran to the stone bench. At dis
lance, by the light of the gas, he pre-
oeiVed the little girl.
God be praised" he cried, "she is
still there r.
He approached and seized her hand.
ooh, how cold it was Poor child
He took her in his arms to bear her
away. The child's head fell back, but
she did not waken.
He pressed her to his heart to bring
back the warmth to her llttlelbody, but
filed with a strange uneasiness, he
was on the point Of kissing her eyes
in order to draw her from the heavy
1lumber when he perceived with hor-
ror that her eyelds were half open,
the eyeballs, dimmed and
fixed in CLASSY stare. A terrible
flashed through his mind
he put his mouth close to the mouth
IF the child; not breath escaped.
While, with the goId.piece that he
had stolen from this homeless child,
Lucian had won small fortune, she
had frozen to death. The most fright
Tul anguish choked his utterance, and
with the effort he made to cry out he
twoke from his dream on the leather
bench of the cercIe, where he had fall
30 asleep little before midnight and
where the servant, being the. last TO
90, toward five in the morning, had,
,ut Of kindness Of heart for the ruined
Ipendthriit, allowing him to rest I'M
disturbed. A frosty December morn.
ng had whitened the window panes,
md fair hand had traced many a
chateau d Espanc to crumble with the
Using sun. Lucisn went out and
,awned his watch, took bath, got +,
liz break fast, went to the bureau for !
ecruits and signed an engagement as l